Phoenix
Monday, September 16, 2024
Thursday, December 14, 2023
The “humour” poems in our syllabus while providing humour, attempt to convey some greater truths. Discuss this statement with relevance to three poems in your syllabus:
The term “humour” is
often associated with silliness, meaninglessness, lack of depth, etc.
Therefore, when a poem receives the “appellation” humour – the reader often
assumes them to be lightweight poetry without substance. Yet, humour is often a
good way to camouflage quite serious messages. It helps to say things that
might be considered offensive in a nicer way.
Looking at the four
poems in our syllabus, it is easy to see the reasons why they might be stashed
under the title “humour”. For example, “Upside Down” is about a man who does things
in an unconventional way. The poet mentions some of the bizarre things that had
happened: ….. in “The Huntsman,” humour is not so powerful. Of course one might
laugh at the way huntsman rushes to the place after his conversation with the
skull and how the skull refuses to talk to the king landing the hunter in
trouble. In “the Camel’s Hump,” Kipling humorously shows the repercussions of
over indulgence. In “Two’s Company” the poet Raymond Wilfred illustrates comically
how being overbold gets a man into trouble.
However, none of these
poems can be swept aside as merely humorous. In “Upside Down” we get to see how
unconventional people are misunderstood by other…In “The Huntsman” underneath
the humour, there is a cautionary tale. One must think before one acts and
speaks. In “The Camel’s Hump” Kipling humerously illustrates one of the most
serious problems in modern life: laziness and obesity. Lastly, in “Two’s
Company,” the poet encourages the reader to re-think the modern tendency to
thing scientifically. Everything cannot be rationalized.
Finally, one might say
humour runs as a common thread linking all four poems; however, all four poems have
something beyond just humour to offer their readership.
Saturday, December 9, 2023
Twilight of a Crane: 1. By referring to the text, compare and contrast the characters of Tsu and Yohyo in Twilight of a Crane
· Character arc – what does
the character look like at beginning and at the end
· what are the changes,
what had made the changes,
· how had the changes
affected the characters and those around him.
· What is the thematic
relevance of the change the character undergoes
· How do the interactions
between the two characters highlight the themes of the play
In
this answer, I will be dealing with
two character arcs: the character arc of Tsu and that of Yohyo. In the course
of the answer I will be
dealing with how the two characters looked at the beginning and the end; what
are the changes the two characters have undergone; what caused those changes in
them; what are the thematic relevance of the changes and how the interactions
between the characters highlight the themes of the play.
Let us look at the character arc of Tsu first.
Initially, the audience come across Tsu as Yohyo’s wife. She is a stranger to
the village. According to Unzu, after her arrival, Yohyo spends all his life
just relaxing by the fire doing nothing. Sodo wonders how Yohyo managed to make
such a pretty woman his wife. Towards the middle of the play we learn that Tsu
was a crane that had metamorphed into a woman out of gratitude to Yohyo for
saving her life. According to Yohyo she comes to his door one night and offers
to be his wife. At this point, thematically
speaking, Tsu represents natural forces and positive traits such as
kindness, love and self-sacrifice.
As a wife, Tsu loved her husband very much,
wanted to make him happy even at the expense her own life and health. She
overlooks Yohyo’s laziness and the fact that he was a very bad provider, his
fascination with hoarding money and his inability to value the gifts of senba ori. She single mindedly focuses
on his only good quality: his kindness towards her at a time she was injured
and his occasional displays of concern for comfort. For Tsu, one’s word was
important; ultimately, she leaves Yohyo because he breaks his promise to her
not to look at her while she was weaving. In contrast to her relationship with
Yohyo which is primarily based on gratitude, Tsu’s relationship with the
children is based on their shared desire to live a life close to nature and
enjoy the moment. Tsu’s character stands for the theme of positive aspects of
nature. Her interactions and the final outcome of the interactions stand for
the interactions between nature and capitalism.
Tsu as a character of nature, likes to lead an
uncomplicated life. She urges Yohyo to give up his desire to visit Kyoto and
live happily with her in the rural area where they lived forever. Yohyo makes
references to Tsu having seen Kyoto several times. What Tsu may have seen in
Kyoto makes her reluctant to go there even to keep her husband by her side.
Kyoto frightens her. To her, Kyoto
represented everything complicated and corrupt. She is frightened by Yohyo’s
fascination with the capital city and believes once he gets there he would not
return to her. What happens to Tsu in the end is a warning to the audience as
to what could be the final outcome of a conflict between the benevolent aspects
of nature and capitalism. After all the upheaval, even at the end of the play she
remains true to her character; she does not change much in the course of the
play. Tsu’s character arc is almost linear. Tsu is aware of the human potential
for evil: she had seen corruption in Kyoto and she had been the victim of human
cruelty – she had been shot at with an arrow. But, she is willing to believe
that human beings are capable of finer feelings such as generosity, love,
kindness and appreciation of beauty. Also, Tsu as a wife, represent values such
as self-sacrifice and honour promoted by feudal Japan.
Secondly, let us
look at the character of Yohyo. According to the script, Yohyo is one of the
protagonists in the drama. He is young farmer from rural area. He is
unsophisticated: both Unzu and Sodo consider Yohyo to be foolish and they
easily manipulate him to do their bidding. Yohyo lacks a strong willpower.
Therefore, anyone with a strong personality can change the way he thought and
behaved. If we were to consider Tsu as a representation of nature and Unzu and
Sodo as personifications of capitalism, Yohyo is the weak man caught between
two powerful forces.
Before meeting
Tsu, Yohyo must have supported himself through his farming activities, but
after meeting Tsu he does not seem to be doing any work: the house is a tumbled
down hut. It has not been made ready to meet the brutal Japanese winters. The
farm lays fallow and there are no references to granaries or stored food.
Instead of supporting his wife, he becomes a lazy man who lay sleeping by the
fireside who is supported by the efforts of his wife. Tsu tries to convey her love and gratitude by
weaving a Senba Ori for him. Yohyo is incapable of understanding the
significance of the cloth; therefore, instead of treasuring it he sells it and
hoards money in sacks. Tsu wants be happy with Yohyo, but Yohyo wants to earn a
lot of money. Yohyo is depend on Tsu’s weaving. It is his shortsightedness that
exposes their relationship to Unzu and Sodo who callously exploits Yohyo’s
weaknesses to their advantage. In summary, when we look at the development arc
of Yohyo’s character, the Yohyo we see until the very end is predominantly
driven by his fascination with money and the desire to please his senses.
Still, he is not a complete monochromatic character: there is both good and bad
in him. He is a weak and lazy man who puts his desires above that of his wife.
However, he is also capable of acts of kindness towards both Tsu and the
children who come to play with them. .
In conclusion, let
us summarize how the two
characters looked at the beginning and the end; what are the changes the two
characters have undergone; what caused those changes in them; what are the
thematic relevance of the changes and how the interactions between the
characters highlight the themes of the play.
Out of the two main
characters, we meet Tsu and Yohyo as mature people who are more or less set in
their way. The character arc of the male is almost nonexistent. The male
protagonist we see at the beginning is more or less the same person we would
see at the end. Tsu’s character, on the other hand, …
Thursday, December 7, 2023
1. Discuss Emily Dickinson’s “A Bird Came Down the Walk” as a minute observation of nature.
Nature is a predominant theme in many of
the work of the American poetess Emily Dickinson. Following this preoccupation,
in “A Bird Came Down the Walk”, too, Dickinson offers a minute observation of the world around her
to her readers. However, the poem is not limited to a mere observation of
nature. Instead, the poem also deals with the all-important issue of man’s relationship with
nature.
In order to illustrate her points,
Dickinson presents/ introduces a beautiful interaction between a human being
and a small unknown bird. The poetic persona sees the bird coming down her walk
looking for food. She observes how the bird catches food and then interacts
with its environment. Next, the poetic persona offers some breadcrumbs to the
bird. To her surprise, instead of accepting it, the bird takes off offended.
Most of us would not note an everyday
occurrence such as the one described by the poetess. However, being a keen observer of both nature
and human beings, Dickinson, shares with the reader her careful observations of
the interactions between the bird and bird and its environment as well as the poetic
persona and the bird making it a very special experience. One might say that a
19th century white middle class woman had more time at hand to engage
in activities such as “minute” observations of nature unlike most people today,
especially women. The poetess sees a bird coming down her walk. It is either
not a very special bird or the poetic persona does not know its name. the
poetic persona says that this ordinary unknown bird “did not know” that she had
seen it. The word “saw” underscores that this was an unplanned happening. Next,
she observes the bird biting “an angle-worm in
halves”. She makes known her revulsion or the surprise at the dining habits of
the bird by placing the word “raw” after a comma. The poetic persona displays
her fellowship with both the bird and the worm by calling them “he” and “the
fellow”. Thereafter, she explains how the bird “drank a dew/ [f]rom a
convenient grass”. Here, the poetic persona expresses her approval of the
location of the grass in proximity to the now-full bird through the use of
“convenient” as a pre-modifier for the grass. Now, satiated, the bird allows
the beetle which he would surely have eaten had he not been full to “pass” by
hopping “sidewise to the wall” – or so thinks the poetic persona. Dickinson’s poetic persona notes next how the
bird looks about “with rapid eyes/ [t]hat hurried all abroad”. She thinks that
the bird’s eyes “looked like frightened beads”. The poetic persona makes note
of the velvety texture of the head unlike ordinary people who come across such
scenes. The poetic persona then goes on
to offer the visitor to her “walk” “a crumb. She does that cautiously. However,
instead of accepting the offering the bird takes off. Here, to describe the way
the bird took off, the poetic persona offers several images from nature and the
human world. An sailing ship unrolling its sails getting ready to sail is used
to show how the bird got ready to fly away. The effortless way the bird flapped
its wings is compared to how “oars divide the ocean” – like the silver surface
of the ocean would not carry the marks of the oars, the air would not carry the
marks of the passage of the bird’s graceful flight. Through these two images
from nature the poetic persona is illustrating the unfamiliar through the
familiar. Here, the familiar is the man-made world and the unfamiliar is the
natural world. Next, taking a bold step, the poetic person makes use of images
from nature: the way the bird took off is compared to how butterflies leap “off
banks of noon” and swim away “plashless” – a mixed metaphor. Through
that this American poetess makes us question how much we might be missing out
in life as a result of not looking at the world around us carefully
enough.
In addition, the poetess offers her
readers a unique and carefully observed picture of man’s relationship with
nature as well. Due to human “progress” there is distance between 19th
century man and nature. No matter how observant she is, the poetic persona does
not know the bird’s name. She does not have a clear idea of why the bird
stepped sideways. She says that she thought the bird stepped aside to let the
beetle pass. The bird’s feeding style surprises or shocks her. Finally, she
offers a bird who was full and therefore had refused to eat a beetle some
crumbs – this is a mark of her ignorance about how animals behave. Most animals
don’t eat once they are full. At the same time, this bird seems to be a
carnivore. The poetic persona does not note that. So it is quite clear that through
the poetic persona’s ignorance, the poetess is trying to show the developing
gulf between man and nature.
In
conclusion, “The Bird Came Down the Walk” is indeed one of Dickinson’s minute
observations of nature through which she is trying to illustrate a great
tragedy she has noted: there is a developing distance between man and
nature.
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
The Barn and Stack and Tree - by A E Houseman
In “The barn and stack and tree”, the poet underscores the repercussions of giving into emotions and its impact on an entire community. Discuss.
“The Barn and Stack and Tree” was a pastoral lyric composed by the
English poet A E Houseman. The poem contains one painful experience of a young
unnamed farmer who happens to be the poetic persona of the poem, too. Through
the poem the poet suggests that giving into emotions harms not only the person
but also the entire community.
In the following section, let us look at various parties who were
affected by the hasty action of the young farmer. The first person to suffer
due to his action was the farmer himself. The young man loses his brother.
Fratricide is a serious sin according to the Bible as illustrated by the Old
Testament story of Cain and Able. Not only that, he loses his name. He would
not be able to use the name he was given by his parents for the fear of being
identified by the law. In addition, he would have to live the life of a
fugitive – living from post to pillar.
Being a prosperous farmer, the young man would have enjoyed a fair
amount of prestige; however, a man on the run would have none of that. In
addition, he would have to keep on looking over his shoulder all the time – he
can never let down his guard and be at ease.
Looking at the first line of the poem, “Farewell to Barn and Stack and
Tree”, his legacy was important to him; he was its custodian and he was
expected to hand it over to another generation. Losing that legacy as well as
the pain of letting down his ancestors would torment him for the rest of his
life. The pain of letting down his mother in her old age is another tragedy the
young man would have to face. The poet illustrates this situation through the
line “My mother thinks us long away”. If that was not enough, he would also
have to give up his friendship with Terrance, his best friend: “And here’s a
bloody hand to shake/ And o man, here’s goodbye”. Moreover, the young farmer
would not be able to enjoy what he used to enjoy – such as racing at Lamas
tide. Farmers are people who bound to
their land and people in their lives. But looking at what we have discussed so
far, it is clear that the young farmer would be suffering from unbearable
mental agony for the rest of his life because of his hastiness.
The
second person to suffer due to the young farmer’s haste was his own brother
Maurice whom he murdered. His life was cut short in its prime due to his
brother’s jealous hast over a woman they both seem to have been interested in.
The young woman herself would surely become the target of malicious gossip and
lose her prestige. She might not be able to have a family of her own and would
surely face a bleak future because of that.
Though the
impact was not as serious as it was on the farmer, his brother, their mother
and the young woman, Terrance, the young
man’s lifelong friend too was a victim of his friend’s haste – he loses a friend.
The impact of
the young farmer’s hast is not limited to people: the farm and the animals too
would suffer due to negligence as there would be no one to take care of them or
inherit them as one bother was dead and the other would be leaving the area to
avoid capture.
In
conclusion, looking at the discussion
so far, there is no doubt/ it is certainly beyond doubt that giving into
emotions affects not only the person who had given into it but also all the
animate and the inanimate connected with his life.
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Narges Mohammadi, a fiery flower or a vengeful goddess?
"The Norwegian Nobel Committee
has decided to award the 2023 #NobelPeacePrize to Narges Mohammadi for her
fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human
rights and freedom for all," stated the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Narges Safie Mohammadi was born on the 21st of April
1972 in Zanjan, a central Iranian city 170 miles northwest of Tehran, to a
middle class Iranian family. Zanjan has a history of harbouring denizens with
leftish leanings. Mohammadi’s birth had taken place just 7 years after the Iranian
Revolution and her family has been involved in political protests since the Revolution.
Ms. Mohammadi had read Physics and
received her Bachelor of Science degree from Imam Khomeini University in
Qazvin. She was an engineer by profession. She became an activist and an
advocate for women’s rights, equality and abolition of the death penalty in her
undergraduate years at IKU.
To this day she has been “arrested 13
times, convicted five times and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison and
154 lashes,” said the Nobel Prize website. Mohammadi was serving multiple sentences in Tehran's Evin
Prison before she was transferred to Zanjan the place of
her birth. Reuters
reporting from Oslo on the 6th of October stated that Mohammadi was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday as “a rebuke to Tehran’s theocratic
leaders and boost for protesters.” Reuters also added that the award committee
stated that “the prize honoured those behind recent unprecedented
demonstrations in Iran and call for the release of Mohammadi.” Lauding
Mohammadi, Berit Reiss-Andersen, head of the Norwegian
Nobel Committee, told Reuters:
We hope to
send the message to women all around the world that are living in conditions
where they are systematically discriminated have the courage, keep on going…We
want to give the prize to encourage Narges Mohammadi and the hundreds of
thousands of people who have been crying for exactly 'Woman, Life, Freedom' in
Iran.
U.S. President Joe Biden said,
"The United States will continue working to support Iranians’ ability to
advocate for their own future, for freedom of expression, for gender equality,
and to end gender-based violence against women and girls everywhere." In
addition, Ms Mohammadi received a steady stream of tributes from key global
bodies . U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres commenting on Mohammadi’s
award said that it was "a tribute to all those women who are fighting for
their rights at the risk of their freedom, their health and even their lives." Dan
Smith of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on the other hand
stated that the prize could help ease Iranian dissidents, it would be unlikely
to bring about Mohammadi's release. "Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a
human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. In awarding her this year's Nobel
Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour her courageous
fight for human rights, freedom, and democracy in Iran," said the Nobel
Prize website.
Nasser Kanaani, a spokesperson
for Iran's Foreign Ministry, reacting to the announcements of the
Nobel Web stated:
The action of the Nobel Peace
Committee is a political move in line with the interventionist and anti-Iranian
policies of some European governments …The Nobel Peace committee has awarded a
prize to a person convicted of repeated law violations and criminal acts, and
we condemn this as biased and politically motivated.
The Nobel
Peace Prize worth around 1 million dollars will be presented in Oslo on
December 10th on the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel, who founded
the awards in his 1895 will. After the announcement was made Mohammadi had stated to the New York Times that she would "continue
to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny and gender-based
oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women.”
The alleged death of Masha Amini while she was in police custody resulted in
the latest spate of violence in Iran. The Nobel laureate, herself, has been arrested
13 times, convicted five times and sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison
and 154 lashes. Commenting on that the Nobel Prize website had added, "Her
brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs."
51-year-old Mohammadi is an Iranian
journalist, human rights activist, the deputy director and the spokesperson of
the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), a non-governmental organisation
led by Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who lives in exile. "I congratulate Narges Mohammadi and
all Iranian women for this prize," Ebadi told Reuters. "This prize
will shed light on violation of women's rights in the Islamic Republic ...
which unfortunately has proven that it cannot be reformed." told Ebadi to Reuters.
She is married to Taghi Rahmani. Commenting on the decision to the Reuters from his home in
Paris, Rahmani stated, "This Nobel Prize will embolden Narges' fight for
human rights, but more importantly, this is in fact a prize for the 'woman,
life and freedom' movement." Hamidreza Mohammadi, Mohammadi’s brother who
was in Oslo said, "She will feel much stronger in her endeavours for human
rights in Iran and for everyone who hopes for a better situation in Iran."
It is stated that Narges Mohammadi has been separated from her husband for 15 years
and her children for 7 years due to her activism. They reside in France while
Mohammadi lives in Iran.
Monday, August 21, 2023
The Earthen Goblet - Harindranath Chatopadhyaya
The Earthen Goblet – Harindranath Chatophadyaya - reviewed by Anupama Gidakanda
Questions
to ponder on: What does the title mean? What kind of goblet is
he talking about? Was Chattopadhyaya writing to a native audience or like many colonial/postcolonial
writers was he writing with a western audience in mind?
O silent goblet red from head to heel,
How did you feel
When you were being twirled
Upon the Potter’s wheel
Before the Potter gave you to the world?
The
poetic person addresses the goblet as “O silent goblet” and immediately offers
it status far above ordinary goblets. The technique the writer is using is
called apostrophe – the poetic persona is made to address an inanimate object
directly. The poetic persona is treating the goblet as a sentient being with
consciousness.
The
poetic persona notes two qualities in the goblet: it is red and silent. The
goblet is red because it made of baked clay. However, red is also the colour of
life. Ironically, the goblet is an inanimate fixed thing. However, the clay
from which it was created was both animate and plastic/flexible.
All
inanimate things are silent. Therefore, when the poetic persona levels his
question at the “silent goblet” there could be two reasons for that:
1. He meant
it to be purely a rhetorical question and did not expect an answer (or)
2. He wanted
the goblet to break its silence and find its voice so that it that could
express itself
The poetic persona asks two
questions:
1. How did
the goblet feel when it was twirled around on the potter’s wheel?
2. How did
the goblet feel when it was give to the world?
In this
section, the poet is dealing with an act of creation. In this act, the
substance (clay) that is being shaped into something else (the goblet) does not
have any agency/power; therefore, it has no say in what is happening to it. It
is interesting that the goblet is usually considered a feminine shape. It is
the “Potter”, usually man, who decided what the lump of clay would be. This
situation sums up any condition in which one party has all power in the world
to decide the fate of another. In such situations, powerful people like the
Potter considers the substance they work with to be without will, consciousness
or the reasoning power, and therefore they exert their will, consciousness and
the reasoning power in shaping it to something to their liking. Here, neither
in the shaping or the presenting of the goblet does the Potter consult the clay
or the goblet regarding its likes and dislikes. The act of creation is
bewildering to the clay as indicated by the term “twirl”. It befalls on the
poetic persona to ask those questions making him more sensitive of the two- the
Potter and the poetic persona. What would have given him that sensitivity? In
many cultures poets are said to be extra sensitive and divinely inspired. This
gives the poet the power to see things overlooked by others.
‘I felt a conscious impulse in my clay
To break away
From the great Potter’s hand that burned so
warm.
The
poetic persona’s questions helps the goblet to find its voice. In a flashback
the goblet narrates its life story. The goblet identifies itself as ‘I’ –
indicating conscious fully formed personhood in the goblet. In contrast, the
clay has only “conscious impulse”. The paradox indicated here is the shaping of
the clay while restricting it and robbing it of its plasticity had given the
goblet a personhood which the clay lacked. The cool clay impulsively tries to
break away when it is touched by the warm hands of the Potter. It resist the
shaping of it. Do you think the clay would have thought it was worthwhile
undergoing the painful and bewildering process of the shaping of it into the
goblet, had it known the outcome? No.
I felt vast
Feeling of sorrow to be cast
Into my present form.
The third
stanza begins in a positive note: the goblet says that it felt “vast”. This
sense of positivity is immediately followed by an immense feeling of
negativity. By juxtaposing those two ideas, the poet is suggesting the many binaries
of life: hope and hopelessness, sadness and happiness, etc. Instead of feeling
a sense of elation and accomplishment, the goblet or the consciousness in the
goblet had felt a great sense of sorrow.
‘Before that fatal hour
That saw me captive on the Potter’s wheel
And cast into this crimson goblet-sleep,
I used to feel
The fragrant friendship of a little flower
Whose root was in my bosom buried deep.
In the
fourth stanza, the goblet, in a flashback, gives the reason for its sorrow and
regret at being cast into a goblet. Being made into a goblet had put the clay
into a “goblet-sleep”. In its clay form, it was awake and alive. The purpose of
clay/soil is to provide a growth medium for plants, not to become a drinking
vessel. By turning the clay into a goblet, the Potter had deprived not only the
clay but also the plant: the Potter prevents the clay from performing one of
its intended functions that gave it pleasure and He also robbed the plant on
which the little flower grew a place to grow. We often assume that only higher
beings are capable of friendship, etc., but the poet suggests that even clay
and plants can have a friendship. Not only that, they can have a “fragrant
friendship” – a friendship that is not based on reciprocity (giving and
taking). For the clay, the fact that the flower is small does not make any
difference. Technically speaking, the
poet uses inversion and alliteration. In using inversion, the poet privileges
the tragedy – being cast into a goblet. When that is juxtaposed with the former
pleasant experience of being friends with the little flower, reader feels the
acute sense of sadness the goblet feels. This generates pathos in the mind of
the reader.
‘The Potter has drawn out the living breath of
me
And given me a form which is the death of me.
My past unshapely natural state was best
With just one flower flaming through my breast.’
The last
stanza is a lament. The goblets laments it present form. By giving it shape
(and a personhood/voice) the Potter had taken the most important thing out of
the clay – its’ breath and life. The clay in goblet form cannot give breath to
little flowers and it is in a goblet-sleep. Instead of being a drinking vessel,
something essentially empty and dead, it yearns to revert to its original form.
The poem
has five stanzas. The poetic persona appears in only the first stanza. The rest
is dedicated to give voice to the goblet.
This poem can be read at several
levels:
·
As just a description of making of a goblet
·
At a connotative level, this is about how the
powerless is being shaped into something else against their wishes by those
with power
o
Capitalism and people
o
Urbanization and rural people
o
Colonialism and people of the colonies
o
A dominant philosophy/ political ideology/
religion and ‘primitive’ culture/ powerless group/ women/ poor people
·
A metaphorical reading of the Creation Myth – man
as the goblet and the Potter as God
Themes:
1. Impact of
human activities on nature – in the taking of the clay to form the goblet the
plant on which the little flower was had to be destroyed
2. Free will
and divine design – clay wants to remain clay (free will) but the Potter wants
to make a goblet out of it (divine design) – whether we like it or not we are a
part of a grand design, the working of which we have very little control over. In
the change we lose some and gain some: clay loses its breath and life but gains
shape and personhood
3. The role
of the poet – the voice and conscience of those without voice. It is the poet
who had identified the goblet had a story tell and had asked the magical
question that gave it voice.
Questions
1.
Examine the
significance of the poetic techniques used in the poem “The earthen Goblet”.
2.
‘Through
the voice of the goblet, Haindranath Chattopadhyaya explores how natural life
is destroyed and shaped by external forces.’ Discuss this statement with
reference to “The earthen Goblet”.
3.
Which
significant realities of life does the poet in "The Earthen Goblet"
wish to reveal to the reader? Present your views with reference to the text by
Harindranath Chattopadyaya.
Realities of life presented by the poet
• Change is a significant reality of human life
* change is painstaking and unbearable
* deep attachments (which are difficult / painful to forget)
* disappointment / confusion / lifelessness"
* gives the implication as to how a
person from a rural area, much attached to rural life is made to undergo change
in modern society, with no choice (lump of clay turning into a goblet signifies
a humble village boy changes into a modern emotionless man in the city)
In the poem, “The Earther goblet”, what is the attitude of the goblet towards the change it underwent on the potter’s wheel? What is the message the poet wants to convey?
A discussion on මතක මග මගහැර by Sandya Kumudini Liyanage
By Anupama Godakanda anupamagodakanda@gmail.com
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